Tips for using oXygen
Panels
Default opens 4 panels: Project, Outline, Attributes, and Elements. You can close these, minimize them, and rearrange them.
To open panels:
Perspective>Show view> gives you options for opening panels, many of which aren’t needed for editing records.
Panels can be moved; toggled to show or hide; expanded or contracted
At the top right corner of each panel, these icons appear
Toggle floating “Floats” the panel to wherever you want it to be
Toggle auto-hide Hides the panel, leaving just an icon. Click on icon
and the panel reappears.
Close the panel
When you open Oxygen, four side panels appear surrounding the main screen. Default panels are: Project, Outline, Attributes, and Elements.
These four panels are good for navigating, editing, and arranging your records. However, they are by no means necessary and you may choose to simply close all of them. There are also a number of other panels accessible by going to the Perspective Show View menu.
Example of 4 panels: Project, Outline, Attributes, and Elements
Attributes panel
This panel's operation is based on where your cursor is placed in the document. For whichever element your cursor is placed within, the panel lists the element's name at the top and all attributes that are valid for that element below. If you already have some of these attributes in your markup, they will appear in bold and their values will appear in the second column.
You can use this panel to enter or change attribute values into your record. If you double click in the "value" box to the right of any attribute name, you can type in the value that you want for that attribute. Hit enter/return, and the attribute will appear in the element on the main screen with the value you have given it. When there’s a set list of attributes an arrow appears: click on it to open the menu.
The attributes are automatically listed in alphabetical order. If you click the title bar of either column ("attribute" or "value"), you can toggle through three choices of how to arrange the attributes and values: A-Z, Z-A, and those that you are using (in the order you are using them) above those you have not used.
In the example above, the element <agent> is highlighted on the screen. The Attributes panel shows that no attributes are currently being used with that element, but that nine attributes are valid.
Elements panel
This panel's operation is based on where your cursor is placed in the document. For whichever element your cursor is placed within, the panel lists all the elements that are valid children of that element (valid for use within that element).
You can use this panel to encode new elements in your record. If you double click any of the elements listed, the tag set for the element will appear at the exact point in the document where your cursor is currently placed.
In the example above, the element <agent> is highlighted on the screen. The Elements panel shows that five elements are valid inside the element <agent>: attribution, culture, dates, name, and role.
Outline panel
This panel's operation is based on where your cursor is placed in the document. The panel shows the hierarchical structure of your record, with the element highlighted in which your cursor is currently placed. You can expand or collapse sections of the hierarchical view without affecting expansion on your main document by clicking the +/- signs that appear to the left of each level.
The Outline panel is a very powerful tool and can serve many purposes:
1. Navigation
Double click any element name in the Outline view to be taken directly to that section of the record on the main screen. It is far easier to navigate this way than by scrolling up and down.
2. Moving elements
When you double click an element in the Outline view, the main screen take you to that element and selects the entire element, including all nested elements. If you need to rearrange sections of XML, simply click and drag them in the Outline view and the main screen will reflect the changes. All nested elements move with the parent element. If you need to find the end or beginning tag of an element, just click the element in the Outline view and view the selected area in the main screen.
3. Adding elements and attributes
The Outline view also serves as an editor for elements and attributes. An extensive editing menu is accessible if you right click any element in the Outline hierarchy.
The first choice, "Append child," gives a list of elements that are valid within the context element, and will insert the tags for the element you choose from the list after the last current child element.
The second and third choices, "Insert before" and "insert after," provide lists of all elements that are valid before/after the context element. This option does not insert child elements, only siblings.
The fourth option, "edit attributes" calls up a box similar to the Attributes Panel, allowing you to view and edit attributes for the context element.
Project panel
This panel can be used to perform operations above and beyond what will be discussed here. Explore the Oxygen User Manual for more extensive information on Projects.
Toolbar:
Perspective>Show Toolbar>Edit make the handy "undo", "redo", "cut" etc.
icons appear in the toolbar. You can also right-click any icon
in the toolbar to make the checklist menu appear.
Appearance:
To return to default layout, with all 4 panels open:
Perspective>Reset layout
To increase font size:
Document>Font size>Increase editor font or CTRL +/- or CTRL with mouse scroll wheel
To make the text in your record wrap and not run off the edge of the screen:
Document>Edit>Toggle line wrap
To format and indent the entire record:
Click on “Format and Indent” icon
Other:
Right click anywhere in record and a menu appears. You might want to experiment with it.
“Go to matching tag” might be useful.
Creating a new record:
● Open oXygen
● File>New or click on "blank "new document" icon
● Follow instructions in documentation: "XML Headers / Creating a New
Metadata Document"
● Your entire new record will be within the wrapper <vra:vra> </vra:vra>
● You'll save this new document, just as you'd save a new Word
document. When you are prompted for a name, choose one based on your project’s guidelines. You can save it toyour Desktop, or to a folder if you choose to create one for your project. Example:
File>Save:
Change untitled1.xml to 12345.vra.xml and click
Your document will be named and saved into the folder you’ve chosen:
Validating a record:
Click on the “Validate Document” icon in the toolbar
If validation fails a message will appear at the bottom of the screen:
An error message will also appear if your place the arrow over the red mark on the right side of the record:
When the record has been corrected the red indicator will turn green
Be sure to add the appropriate schematron link to your record and validate it one final time.